She's My Safety
by Haleb heart
Summary: Mistakes always come back to haunt you. One shot.
You all can thank OTH and tyshleymarin on Twitter for this :)

x-x-x

"Ca-leb! Ca-leb! Ca-leb!" The crowd roared as the brunette boy ran out onto the court.

His heart was irregularly racing, his head violently spinning and getting worse with every step he took. After everything in his life, his father pressuring him to do better in everything he does, his mom being in rehab for overdosing due to his dad's pressure on the both of them, fighting with his girlfriend Hanna, dealing with school, basketball remained his one constant. But the pressure on him to live up to the "Caleb Rivers" expectation was too much. He couldn't handle it on his own. Which is why a bottle of amphetamines, performance enhancing drugs, sat half-empty in his duffle bag in the locker room.

"Hey, mate, you okay?" Toby asked, running over to Caleb when he noticed the odd behavior.

"Yeah. Fine. Just dehydration," he lied.

Toby nodded slightly, then ran back to his position as the referee blew his whistle, starting the clock.

The phrases of "Pass!" And "I'm open" filled his ears as the anticipation grew inside the seemingly tiny gym, and the coaches on either side of him yelled louder and harsher. He broke. Toby had passed him the ball, and the second he off running, he broke. Everything had become too much for him.

"Caleb!" Coach Whitey yelled, running over to the collapsed body.

"Baby!" Hanna panicked, trying to run over and get through the crowd that had formed around him, with no luck.

All she could see was his pale body, laying still on the floor, with a basket ball by his side. This was all her fault, wasn't it? She knew how much pressure had been on him, she should've helped. Why didn't she...

x-x-x

"Hey, it's me... Uh, I guess I'm just worried about you..." the blonde sighed, talking into her mobile, "I really hate the way we ended things."

"So do I," the boy appeared at her doorframe, his voice breaking, and he looked at her worried expression.

Things between them had been rough lately, and they hadn't truly talked for almost a week now, but he was her safety.

"Nobody answered the door..." He trailed, looking down at the floor, rethinking his decision to come to her.

"T-they're away for the weekend... How are you?" She said softly, throwing her phone gently into her bed behind her so she could look directly at the boy in front of her.

"Not so good," he barely said, his voice breaking and shaking, just above a whisper, which was all he could manage right then.

"Tonight..I just..." Caleb started, before the petite blonde went over to him and wrapped her arms around him.

Now she knew he was okay, he was alive, that's all that mattered. That, and being there for him when he needed her most, which was now more than ever.

"I made a lot of mistakes, Hanna..." He mumbled, gently pulling away from her grasp to look her in the eyes.

His eyes were distant, his voice breaking and wavering as he confessed, "Sometimes because of my dad... Sometimes by choices..."

Hanna looked up at him, eyes cloudy with tears threatening to spill out. He looked down at the floor, then sat down on her bed with his head hung low, while she sat next to him.

"I just can't do it anymore Han," the boy let a single tear slip.

She looked at him as though her world had just been broken. She had never known Caleb to be a quitter, he was the strongest person she knew. Yet here he was, crumbling next to her.

"It's okay..." She whispered, her voice also breaking off.

"No." He laughed slightly and looked at her.

"No... It's not okay. _I'm_ not okay." The brunettes gaze went back to the floor, his head hanging even lower than before.

"When I fell on the floor tonight..." She held his hand, mentally braving herself for what he was about to say, "I was _so_ scared."

Hanna's heart physically ached at the sound of his voice faltering off and the pain laced in his words as he admitted that he, Caleb Rivers, was scared.

"I was so terrified," he whispered, looking over at her, and she could see the pain and heartache riddled on his face.

He took a couple shallow breaths, fighting back the urge to let his tears go.

"Then I saw you. A-And I promised myself that I could just get up, one last time... I'd walk over to you and tell you how much I need you, how much I want you...," his voice broke on his last sentence, as he looked into her bright blue eyes with the most pain and sincerity she had ever seen, "then nothing else matters."

She looked at him for a moment, gently running her fingers through his hair, then pulled him closer and gently kissed him.

In that single moment, she took away his pain, his sadness, his worries, and left him with a smile. For that one brief moment in time. Then she pulled away. They looked at each other for another moment, then she stood up and walked towards her door. She leaned up against the side and looked back at Caleb.

"Hanna...," He mumbled, his voice still weary and broken, "Can I stay with you tonight?"

She smiled a small, delicate, painful smile, then slowly closed her bedroom door. The blonde walked back over to him, sitting down next to him in time for the brunette to hug her and let his tears fall. She held him as close as she possibly could, and they stayed like that for minutes, maybe even hours, until he caught his breath and slowly looked back at her.

"Come on," she softly said, wiping his tears with the pad of her thumb, then guiding him to lay on her bed.

He did as she gently told him too, and watched while she exited the room. She came back a few minutes later, in his large shirt and her shorts, then laid down next to him. He put his arms around her, wanting to hold her as close and tight as he could, without hurting her.

"Why did you come here tonight?" Hanna asked.

"What do you mean?" He looked at her.

"I'm glad you came, but we were in a fight... I didn't think you would come here.." She confessed.

"I can't go back to my house... Not yet." He sighed.

A thought raced through her mind that worried her, "W-why not?"

"My dad... When the doctor at the hospital asked if I had used any drugs or enhancers, he looked so confident that I would never do that. That I was perfect. And when he realized that that was the only reason I could have collapsed... You should've seen the disappointment in his eyes. He might work me a lot, but he's still my dad, and he wouldn't even talk to me... I couldn't go home to that yet," he sighed, putting his head on her shoulder.

She put her hand over one of his that was wrapped around her.

"Why did you let me stay? Why did you listen to everything I had to say?" He questioned her.

"Caleb, I know you, and what happened today wasn't you. I didn't know if you were okay, or if you had killed yourself on the court, but once I saw you, I knew something was really wrong. You wouldn't have come to me if you had anywhere else to go," she paused, "plus, I had nothing better to do."

He laughed slightly, and god was it good to hear his laugh again.

She moved closer to him, cuddling into his chest. They stayed in silence in one another's grasp for hours. Once they both closed their eyes, physically and emotionally drained from the day, right before either could fall asleep:

"Thank you," he mumbled.

"For what?" She whispered, not moving.

"Being my constant," he yawned, "I thought it was basketball... I was wrong. It's you."

"Caleb..." She started to say.

"You always save me. I love you," he barely managed to say before falling asleep.

She smiled to herself as he said "I love you" for the first time, "Goodnight, Caleb."

That was all she needed to hear to make everything okay again. They had saved each other that night.

x-x-x

Before you all say you hate me for this, I want to say that this made me cry while I wrote it and this was truly one of the hardest stories I've ever written because I love Nathan and Haley so much in this scene (God he breaks my heart every time), and making it into Haleb just... So, I feel everyones pain. But I have some good news too! Since many of you are asking for a 6x20 one-shot on Caleb saving Hanna, I will write that this weekend hopefully, and it will be so cute and full of fluff that everything will once again be right with the world :). I hope you all had a good day, and don't forget to review! My messages are always open if you have a request on a story too :) -K


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